obviously, december 21st, when congress is supposed to head home, when the president is supposed to head to hawaii on his christmas vacation, all of this could slide. the real deadline is the end of the year, but they really need to strike a deal by christmas. and even doing that, have been waiting as long as that is something that could really roil the market. so it's also important that they do it before then, ted. >> yeah, well, hopefully the threat of missing their vacation will push them to work harder. >> it works sometimes. >> sure. brianna keilar for us this morning at the white house. brianna, thank you. this morning, some calming words on syria amid fears that the crumbling regime there could unleash chemical weapons on its own people, just days after the u.s. and other countries warned embattled president bashar al assad against such action. defense secretary leon panetta says syria may be backing away from that threat. here is what panetta said earlier this morning aboard a flight to kuwait city. >> we haven't seen anything new indicating, you know, any aggressive steps to move forward